Bloodline Knight

Much like sorcerers the bloodline knight explores the powers granted to them through innately magically bloodlines. Whether through accident or design this warrior has chosen a more martial approach to their powers. Sometimes referred to as lineage knights, inheritors, or derogatorily as blood fighters these potent combatants have learn to harness the power within to a staggering effect. Since the life of a bloodline knight can be short and because of their sanguine ties it is not unheard of for a bloodline knight to embrace vampirism or some other blood based form of undeath to continue their quest for inner power.

Role: Bloodline knights are martial focused, but with a twist of sorcerer ability to make them a varied and unpredictable foe on the battlefield. The ability to harness blood for enhanced spellcasting, either theirs or others, can be highly demoralizing for even the stoutest of hearts.

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d10

Starting Wealth: 5d6 × 10 gp (average 175 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the sorcerer.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A bloodline knight is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with light armor and shields, but not tower shields. A bloodline knight can cast sorcerer spells while wearing light armor and using a shield without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any other arcane spellcaster, a bloodline knight wearing medium or heavy armor incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component. A multiclass bloodline knight still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes except sorcerer, which this ability transfers over to.

Spells

Table: Bloodline Knight Spells Known

Level

Spells Known

0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

1st

2

—

—

—

—

2nd

3

—

—

—

—

3rd

4

—

—

—

—

4th

4

1

—

—

—

5th

4

2

—

—

—

6th

4

3

—

—

—

7th

4

3

1

—

—

8th

4

3

2

—

—

9th

4

3

3

—

—

10th

4

3

3

1

—

11th

4

3

3

2

—

12th

4

3

3

3

—

13th

4

3

3

3

1

14th

4

3

3

3

2

15th

4

3

3

3

3

16th

4

4

3

3

3

17th

4

4

4

3

3

18th

4

4

4

4

3

19th

4

4

4

4

4

20th

4

4

4

4

4

FAQ/Errata

Do the bonuses granted from Bloodline Arcana apply to all of the spells cast by the bloodline knight, or just those cast from the sorcerer's spell list?

The Bloodline Arcana powers apply to all of the spells cast by characters of that bloodline, not just those cast using the bloodline knight's spell slots.

A bloodline knight casts arcane spells drawn primarily from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. She can cast any spell she knows without preparing it ahead of time. To learn or cast a spell, a bloodline knight must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a bloodline knight's spell is 10 + the spell level + the bloodline knight's Charisma modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a bloodline knight can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Bloodline Knight. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Charisma score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells).

A bloodline knight's selection of spells is extremely limited. At each new bloodline knight level, she gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table: Bloodline Knight Spells Known. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a bloodline knight knows is not affected by her Charisma score; the numbers on Table: Bloodline Knight Spells Known are fixed.) These new spells can be common spells chosen from the sorcerer/wizard spell list, or they can be unusual spells that the bloodline knight has gained some understanding of through study. When Table: Bloodline Knight indicates that the bloodline knight gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level, she gains only the bonus spells she would be entitled to based on her Charisma score for that spell level.

Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered bloodline knight level after that (6th, 8th, and so on), a bloodline knight can choose to learn a new spell in place of one she already knows. In effect, the bloodline knight loses the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell's level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged. A bloodline knight may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that she gains new spells known for the level.

Unlike a wizard or a cleric, a bloodline knight need not prepare her spells in advance. She can cast any spell she knows at any time, assuming she has not yet used up her spells per day for that spell level.

Should a bloodline knight gain a level in sorcerer then she may trade two spellcasting levels from the bloodline knight class to gain one additional spellcasting level in sorcerer. This has no other effect and does not enhance the characters abilities in the bloodline knight class, but does allow her to expand her spellcasting even further. She may only trade 2 levels of bloodline knight spellcasting per one level of sorcerer gained. Once the decision has been made it cannot be undone.

Bloodline

Each bloodline knight has a source of magic somewhere in her heritage that grants her spells, bonus feats, an additional class skill, and other special abilities. This source can represent a blood relation or an extreme event involving a creature somewhere in the family's past. For example, a bloodline knight might have a dhampirsorcerer as a distant relative or her grandmother might have dallied with the fey. Regardless of the source, this influence manifests in a number of ways as the bloodline knight gains levels. A bloodline knight must pick one bloodline upon taking her first level of bloodline knight. Once made, this choice cannot be changed. Also, should the bloodline knight already have a bloodline, such as taking levels in sorcerer or a prestige class, then she must choose the same bloodline and levels in bloodline knight stack with levels in another bloodline supplying class. The alternate is also true and if a bloodline knight takes level in sorcerer or some other bloodline supplying class she must choose the same bloodline as what she has.

At 3rd level, and every two levels thereafter, a bloodline knight learns an additional spell, derived from her bloodline. These spells are in addition to the number of spells given on Table: Bloodline Knight Spells Known. These spells cannot be exchanged for different spells at higher levels. Should a bloodline knight have levels in another bloodline derived spellcasting class then these bonus spells apply to both. Levels gained in another bloodline derived class stack for the purposes of what additional spells a bloodline knight has learned.

At 7th level, and every six levels thereafter, a bloodline knight receives one bonus feat, chosen from a list specific to each bloodline. The bloodline knight must meet the prerequisites for these bonus feats. Levels gained in another bloodline derived class stack with bloodline knight for the purposes of when bonus feats are gained. So a 4th level bloodline knight with three levels in sorcerer would gain a bonus feat.

The following bloodlines represent only some of the possible sources of power that a bloodline knight can be born of. Unless otherwise noted, most bloodline knights are assumed to have the draconic bloodline.

Cantrips

Bloodline knights learn a number of cantrips, or 0-level spells, as noted on Table: Bloodline Knights Spells Known under “Spells Known.” These spells are cast like any other spell, but they do not consume any slots and may be used again.

Eschew Materials

At 2nd level and every two levels thereafter the bloodline knight gains one additional use of their 1st level bloodline power with the following criteria, the power must be usable 3 + your Charisma modifier times per day or rounds per day. In the case of arcane bond (gained from the arcane bloodline) the bloodline knight may use that power to reuse a spell-like ability once per day derived from her bloodline knight levels instead of reusing a spell from her spells known.

Bloodline Spell-like Ability

At 3rd level and every two levels thereafter the bloodline knight gains a spell-like ability usable once per day. This is based on whatever bloodline the character has and is dependent solely on the levels of bloodline knight gained (this does not stack with other bloodline derived classes). At 3rd level the first bonus spell learned for her bloodline becomes a spell-like ability usable once per day. At 5th level the second bonus spell learned becomes a spell-like ability usable once per day and so forth until 19th level when the final bonus spell learned becomes a spell-like ability usable once per day. These abilities may be modified with blood magic, but not in any other normal way.

Blood Magic

The one thing bloodline knights gain over all other caster types is the power to transform their blood, or the blood of others, into potent arcane energies. At 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter the bloodline knight gains a metamagic feat. This feat may only be used in conjunction with the blood magic ability. Metamagic feats gained through other means may also be used with blood magic. If the bloodline knight gains a metamagic feat that she has already acquired through the blood magic ability, then she may replace that feat with another metamagic feat so long as the replacement feat has no requirements.

Whenever a bloodline knight cast a spell with a metamagic feat she may inflict an amount of hit point drain onto herself equal to double the level modifier for the metamagic feat. For example, if she cast a magic missile with silent spell it would deal 2 points of hit point drain to her. The total level of the modified spell may not exceed half her level. So at 4th level when this power is gained a +1 level modifier can be applied to a 1st level spell with this ability or a +2 level modifier may be applied to a cantrip, such as the empower metamagic feat. The spell-like abilities a bloodline knight gains may also be modified using blood magic, but with the same criteria. Like a normal sorcerer applying even a blood magic modified metamagic feat requires a full round of casting. This may be modified by feats and the arcane bloodline as normal. So long as the total level of the spell plus the level modifiers do not exceed half the bloodline knights class level then any number of metamagic feats may be applied using blood magic. For example, a 13th level bloodline knight may apply both maximize and empower to a magic missile spell, but nothing else and it would cause her 10 points of hit point drain.

This hit point drain may not be healed magically or naturally. Fast healing nor regeneration may affect it either. Once per day after the bloodline knight has had enough rest to qualify for spell preparation an amount of hit point drain equal to the bloodline knights class level plus Constitution modifier is removed. This is in addition to the normal amount of hit points healed after this amount of rest. The amount of hit point drain healed is doubled after 24 hours of rest.

If a bloodline knight gains levels in sorcerer or another bloodline derived class then her total bloodline level is used to gauge what amount of metamagic feats may be applied to her spells. Her total bloodline level also determines the amount of hit point drain is removed after each period of qualifying rest.

Bloodline Knights without blood: If a bloodline knight cannot heal normally, such as an undeador construct, then she may not inflict hit point drain upon herself to use blood magic. Instead she mustcollect blood from another through bloodletting. A helpless victim can be cut by slashing or piercingweapons (dealing either 1 damage or full damage at the bloodline knights discretion). As part of thisaction the bloodline knight absorbs some of the victims blood. This grants the bloodline knight a bloodpool equal to the damage dealt, but no greater than her level plus her Constitution modifier (use
Charisma for undead, constructs add their hit point bonus for size). This blood will remain usable for one day, after which it spoils and must be replaced. This blood pool replaces the hit point drain a bloodline knight normally inflicts upon herself to use her blood magic powers.

Those with the blood drain ability: Whenever a creature with the ability to heal itself or gain temporary hit points through blood drain uses that ability it may transfer these hit points into a blood pool using the same rules as above for bloodless creatures. This applies even if the creature can heal normally. So dhampirswith the ability to drain blood are most assuredly the deadliest of all bloodline knights.

Bloodline Enhancement

At 6th level and every 4 levels thereafter the bloodline knight gains a bloodline enhancement. These enhancements may only be applied to the bloodline ability gained at 1st level. A bloodline knight with the arcane bond power may instead choose a metamagic feat in place of a bloodline enhancement.

Additional Attacks: This enhancement only applies to bloodline powers that grant natural attacks and may be taken twice. Each time the bloodline knight takes this enhancement she gains one additional natural attack at -5 to hit (this becomes -2 if she has the multi-attack monster feat) during the duration of her bloodline power.

Additional Uses: This enhancement may be taken any number of times. Each time the bloodline knight takes this enhancement she gains two additional uses of her bloodline power.

Combat Maneuvering: This enhancement only applies to bloodline powers that are used to make a combat maneuver check and may be taken up to three times. Each time the bloodline knight takes this enhancement she adds +2 to one kind of combat maneuver check she makes with her bloodline power.

Damage: This enhancement only applies to bloodline powers that deal damage by dice and may be taken up to three times. Each time the bloodline knight takes this enhancement she increases her damage with the bloodline power by one die. This may be applied to natural attacks derived from bloodline powers in which case the base damage is increased by one increment instead. So a huge abyssal bloodline knight would gain an additional 2d6 towards the base damage each time this enhancement is taken. This bonus damage does not enhance feats like vital strike nor is it doubled on a critical hit.

Disgust: This enhancement only applies to bloodline powers that cause the sickened condition and may be taken up to three times. The first time a bloodline knight takes this enhancement it adds the fatigued condition to the power. The second time she takes this enhancement she addsthe exhausted condition to this power in place of fatigued. The third time she takes thisenhancement she adds the nauseated condition to the this power, however this condition only last one round regardless of how long the effect normally last.

Duration: This enhancement only applies to bloodline powers that have a duration and may be taken twice. Each time the bloodline knight takes this enhancement she increases the duration of the power by one round. Bloodline powers such as claws, which are measured in rounds may not have this enhancement applied to them.

Fear: This enhancement only applies to bloodline powers that cause the shaken condition andmay be taken up to three times. The first time a bloodline knight takes this enhancement thevictim becomes frightened instead of shaken. The second time she takes this enhancement thevictim becomes panicked instead of frightened. The third time she takes this enhancement thevictim cowers for one round and then becomes panicked for the remaining duration of the power.

Hit Dice Maximum: This enhancement only applies to bloodline powers that affect targets of a certain amount of hit dice and may be taken up to three times. Each time the bloodline knight takes this enhancement she increases the maximum hit dice she can affect with her power by 2.

Improved Range: This enhancement only applies to bloodline powers that have a range of touch or greater and may be taken up to three times. If this enhancement is applied to a power with a range of touch its range becomes 30' and the power becomes a ranged touch attack unless used on a willing ally. If this enhancement is applied to a power with a range measured in feet it adds 15' to the range each time it is taken. This may not be applied to an attack with reach as reach is different from range.

Multiple Targets: This enhancement only applies to bloodline powers that affects a single target and may be taken up to three times. Each time the bloodline knight takes this enhancement she may affect one additional target that is within the powers range, but no more than 15' from the farthest other target. This cost her one additional usage of her bloodline power per additional target affected. Even if she can affect two or more targets she may not use the same power multiple times on the same target.

Obscurement: This enhancement only applies to bloodline powers that cause the dazzled condition and may be taken up to three times. The first time a bloodline knight takes this enhancement the victims vision is further obscured and anyone they attack gains concealment.The second time she takes this enhancement the victim is blinded in the first round of the powersduration. The third time she takes this enhancement the victim is blinded for the duration of thepower.

Penalty: This enhancement only applies to bloodline powers that inflict a numeric penalty on a victim that isn't a condition and may be taken twice. Each time the bloodline knight takes this enhancement she increases the penalty by two, so a -4 penalty becomes a -6 and then a -8 if taken a second time.

Pounce: This enhancement only applies to bloodline powers that grant natural attacks and may only be taken once. At the end of a charge this enhancement allows the bloodline knight to activate her bloodline power as a free action and make a full round of attacks.

Skill Bonus: This enhancement only applies to bloodline powers that grant a bonus on skill checks and may be taken up to three times. Each time the bloodline knight takes this enhancement she increases the skill bonus provided by one increment, unless the bonus is scaled by level. If it is a set bonus, such as +5, then each iteration of this enhancement adds +5 to the bonus provided. If the bonus scales by level, such as +1 per two levels of the bloodline knight, then this enhancement adds +3 each time it is taken.

Swift activation: This enhancement may be applied to any bloodline power and may be taken up to four times. The first time a bloodline knight takes this enhancement she may spend three uses of her power to activate it as a swift action, but she may still only activate it once per round. The second time she takes this enhancement she needs only spend two uses of her power to activate it as a swift action. A third taking of this enhancement allows her to activate her bloodline power as a swift action whenever she activates it. If she takes this enhancement a fourth time she may activate her bloodline power twice in a round. Once as a standard action and again as a swift action. If her power can already be activated as a swift she may opt to spend one additional usage to activate her bloodline power as a free action. This is typically done so the bloodline knight can cast quickened spells or activate items and abilities that also cost a swift action to use.

Blood Martyr or Blood Theft

At 8th level the bloodline knight must choose the path that will define her for the remainder of her career. Will she sacrifice her own blood to assist and maybe even save lives or will she cross over to the path of darkness, stealing blood from others to enhance her own powers. Once chosen this cannot be undone, though a dramatic shift in alignment can force a bloodline knight to relearn her abilities as either a redeemed martyr or a damned blood thief.

Blood Martyr: A bloodline knight who takes the path of the martyr is willing to share their powers with other and maybe even give up her life for another should the need arise. Whenever she uses blood magic to infuse her spells she adds a twinge of positive energy to them. Upon casting the spell any one target effected may be healed an amount equal to the total hit point drain taken by the bloodline knight. Each increment of this ability allows her to heal an additional target by this amount as well, so long as they are effected all by the same spell. Undead are harmed by an equal amount unless they resist the spell in question via spell resistance or by succeeding on their saving throw. If a spell allows for a save for half damage then on a successful save the undead takes only half of the martyr damage. At 12th level and every 4 levels thereafter the bloodline knight adds 1d8 to the amount healed to each target or damage dealt to each undead. At 20th level this healing is treated as the breath of life spell for the purposes of healing those who are below their Constitution modifier in hit points and the bloodline knight may sacrifice any amount of hit points, even to the point of killing herself, to bring an affected target back from the brink of death. She may not use this aspect of the power on undead.

Alternatively the blood martyr may touch another spellcaster as a standard action and grant them the use of one of her metamagic feats. This bond last for one minute and during that time whenever the allied spellcaster cast a spell either they, or the bloodline knight may inflict hit point drain upon themselves to modify that spell with the metamagic feat in question. The caster always has priority when determining who suffers the hit point drain. The blood martyr may share this bond with a number of spell casters equal to their blood martyr iteration. Each increase in iteration also increases the number of metamagic feats that are shared. So a 16th level bloodline knight may share up to three metamagic feats with three other spellcasters for one minute at a time. The priority order is always the active spellcaster followed by the bloodline knight and then the remaining members in whatever order they choose. If no one is willing to suffer hit point drain to modify a spell then it is cast normally. Hit point drain inflicted on another in this way heals when yours heals and for an equal amount.

Blood Theft: A bloodline knight who takes this path is a scourge upon the world and is the defining characteristic of all that is wrong with blood magic. Whenever the bloodline knight uses blood magic she infuses it with negative energy. Upon casting the spell any one target effected takes damage equal to the amount of hit point drain inflicted upon her by blood magic. At blood theft 2 the victim must make an additional fortitude save DC 10+1/2 the bloodline knights class level + her Charisma modifier or take 1 point of Constitution drain. This removes the hit point drain the bloodline knight would've taken from the blood magic ability. At blood theft 3 the bloodline knight gains negative energy affinity if she doesn't already have it or isn't undead and the drain becomes 1d4 Constitution. This now heals the bloodline knight an amount equal to the hit point drain she would'vesuffered as it is negative energy, but will not heal her if she is a construct or something else that cannotbe healed from negative energy affinity. At blood theft 4 the victim also suffers a negative level andwhile this negative level persists should the victim die they will reanimate as an undead under thecontrol of the bloodline knight in one day. This effect uses the create undead spell as if it were cast by the bloodline knight. Once the target dies the bloodline knight is instantly aware of this and chooses the kind of undead the victim becomes, all other requirements for the create undead spell must be met. The first thing the newly created undead does is seek out it its new master, unless there are too many undead already under her control. In this case the undead is free willed.

Bloodline Knight Feats

Armored in Blood: the bloodline knight has expanded not only what armor they can wear, but how well their magic affects it. Prerequisites: Blood Martyr or Blood Theft, Craft Arms and Armor, Scribe Scroll. Benefits: this character may cast arcane spells in medium armor without penalty. The character may also scribe spells onto their armor as if it where scroll paper. Only the character who scribed the armor may cast spells from it. Only one spell may be scribed per magical plus of the armor. So a +3 suit of chainmail armor may have up to three spells scribed on it at one time. The bloodline knight pays the normal cost for the scroll, but can scribed onto their armor in half the normal amount of time. Casting spells scribed on their armor does not damage the armor. Also, each spell scribed on the armor increases the hardness by an amount equal to the spells level.

Blood Armored: this is the pinnacle of an armor focused bloodline knights armor ability. Prerequisites: Armored in Blood, Craft Arms and Armor, Craft Wand,Scribe Scroll, base attack +11. Benefits: this character may cast arcane spells in heavy armor without penalty. The character may also enchant their armor as if it were a wand. The highest level spell placed in the armor may not be higher than the magical plus of the item. So a +2 suit of field plate could have mirror image placed within it like a wand, but not a fireball spell. Only the bloodline knight that imbued the armor may spend charges and cast the spell. Only one spell can be imbued within a suit of armor in this way, though the armor may still have spells scribed onto it like scrolls as per normal. The bloodline knight may alsouse blood magic to enhance any spell scribed or imbued in their armor and their blood martyr or bloodtheft abilities apply as well.

Extra Bloodline Enhancement: Through dedication and skill this character has delved further than most into expanding their bloodline abilities. Prerequisites: one or more bloodline knight enhancements. Benefits: this character gains one of the following bloodline knight enhancements, Additional Uses, Combat Maneuvering, Damage, Duration, Hit Dice Maximum, Improved Range, or Skill Bonus. Special: this feat may be taken multiple times. It may even be used to take the same enhancement multiple times, so long as it is one of the enhancements listed above and does not exceed the normal amount allowed for that enhancement.

Fighter Trained: War is in this characters blood and the echoes of eternity ring through steel, battle and bone. Prerequisites: 4+ levels in bloodline knight. Benefits: this character uses their total
bloodline level in place of fighter levels to determine what fighter only feats they qualify for. This character also gains +2 to concentration checks when casting defensively.

Design Notes: Admittedly this is just a rough draft. The concept is to have a full base attack arcane caster that fits into a world that already has bards and magus' without feeling unnecessary. Since bloodlines are already thoroughly abundant in Pathfinder making a warrior class that uses them should seem natural. Many of the options I've created here allow a player to explore the martial side of bloodlines and even has a way for players to blend both bloodline knight and sorcerer together into, what I hope, is a competent gish type. I can't think of everything though and without rigorous playtesting I won't know if this works or not. Please, if you find this class cool and get permission from your GM to try it out drop me a line or create a thread on the paizo forums so I can hear what you have to say about it. As a GM and data hound myself this kind of information can only improve the experience for everyone. Thank you.